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Many engaged {couples} within the U.S. are counting on types of credit score to pay for his or her wedding ceremony. Consultants say that strategy may be good, if carried out fastidiously.
Whereas 46% of surveyed newlyweds — {couples} who tied the knot throughout the previous two years — used principally financial savings to pay for prices, 24% paid with bank cards, in accordance to a report by LendingTree. The location polled 1,050 newlyweds in early March.
A separate report by Zola, based mostly on a survey of 6,000 {couples} getting married in 2025, discovered that 31% of engaged {couples} polled plan to make use of bank cards to pay for his or her wedding ceremony, together with utilizing factors or making use of for brand new playing cards.
“If you happen to’re strategic, a bank card may be an incredible software,” stated Matt Schulz, chief credit score analyst at LendingTree.
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In any other case, a bank card could be a slippery slope, main {couples} to stroll down the aisle with long-lasting and costly debt, consultants say.
About 67% of surveyed newlyweds took on debt for his or her wedding ceremony, in keeping with LendingTree.
For brand spanking new playing cards, the common annual proportion price, or the borrowing price, is 24.35%, the best since December, LendingTree discovered.
“In the end, an exquisite wedding ceremony ought to by no means come at the price of monetary stress to a brand new marriage,” stated Gloria Garcia Cisneros, an authorized monetary planner at LourdMurray, an funding and wealth administration agency.
‘Make these financial savings work even tougher for you’
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Weddings have gotten dearer yearly. The common price for a marriage in 2025 is anticipated to be $36,000, in accordance to Zola. That is up from $33,000 in 2024, and $29,000 in 2023.
When you’ve got financial savings put aside to cowl your wedding ceremony prices, charging the expense to a bank card after which instantly utilizing these financial savings to repay the invoice can assist you earn rewards corresponding to factors or miles, stated Schulz.
Some bank cards provide large sign-up bonuses if you spend a set quantity on the cardboard inside a brief interval of opening it. That is perhaps greater than you spend on regular bills, however inside attain when you’ve got large bills — corresponding to wedding-related purchases and deposits — arising.
By instantly paying that cost off along with your financial savings, you possibly can benefit from the rewards for issues corresponding to your honeymoon, Schulz stated.
“It is a strategy to make these financial savings work even tougher for you,” he stated.
Utilizing a bank card can produce other benefits, too. Bank cards provide layers of federal safety that may assist cardholders dispute costs and get a refund if issues go awry with an merchandise or service bought with a card, consultants say.
Some playing cards additionally provide buy protections, a type of insurance coverage in opposition to theft or damages, per NerdWallet. Be certain that to learn the fantastic print of what your bank card provides and the way lengthy the phrases final.
Do not tackle debt for a ‘short-term occasion’
Nonetheless, the important thing with bank cards “is to pay in full,” stated Ted Rossman, a senior trade analyst at Bankrate.
“I positively wouldn’t advocate placing wedding ceremony bills on a card if you are going to be dragging that out over time,” he stated.
Not paying the stability off will depart you with high-interest debt as you begin your new marriage.
Practically 1 / 4, or 24%, of newlyweds married inside two years of the survey are nonetheless paying the debt off, in keeping with LendingTree. Of those who nonetheless owe cash, 47% stated they are going to end paying the debt in six months to a 12 months.
“You do not need to sacrifice your long-term well-being for a short-term occasion,” Rossman stated.
Consider bank card charges, money reductions
Some distributors would possibly take solely money or test funds, whereas others would possibly cost further processing charges for bank cards, Rhee stated. Such further costs can vary from 1.5% to three.5%, in keeping with Bankrate.
Assess whether or not paying the additional price is each reasonably priced and price it to you, or if it is best to make use of a unique type of fee with the seller, stated Lauren Kay, govt editor of The Knot.
What’s extra, some distributors could provide reductions for funds in money.
Wedding ceremony insurance coverage trumps credit score protections
Whereas bank cards can provide sure protections to incurred funds or purchases, they won’t provide broader protections or insurance policies to cowl bigger expenditures, such because the reception or the venue, Kay stated.
“In most situations, your bank card would not provide any actual profit if one thing have been to go incorrect with a purchase order of that magnitude,” stated Kay.
For such bills, wedding ceremony insurance coverage insurance policies could be a good possibility to think about. They assist shield you from sudden dangers corresponding to excessive climate, theft or a vendor who did not present up, stated Kay.
Wedding ceremony insurance coverage coverage pricing can vary from lower than $100 to greater than $1,000, in keeping with NerdWallet, relying on the dimensions of your coverage and the sorts of protection.
“It is necessary to consider what you are hoping to guard,” Kay stated.